Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
(27 Aug 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Tokyo, Japan - 21 February 2017
1. Various of Yayoi Kusama at preview of her solo exhibition in Tokyo
2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Yayoi Kusama, artist:
"I will fight until I'm dead. Even after my death, I hope that people can understand the purpose of my creations, as well as my hope and passion for art.”
3. Kusama’s artwork
4. Various of Kusama waving
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: London, UK - 9 July 2024
5. Various of 'Pumpkin' sculpture next to Round Pond in Kensington Gardens, London
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Cologne, Germany - 12 March 2026
6. "Infinity Mirrored Room – The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe", 2025, Mixed Media, collection of the artist, by Yayoi Kusama at exhibition at Ludwig Museum
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Cologne, Germany - 2 August 2026
7. Various of visitors walking through "Infinity Mirrored Room – The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe"
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Tokyo, Japan – 1 August 2012
8. FILE PHOTO - Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama, wearing a bright red wig and a Louis Vuitton polka dot scarf, speaks during an interview at her studio in Tokyo
(ID: 69100965033)
AP Photo by Itsuo Inouye
9. FILE PHOTO- Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama works at her studio, filled with wall-sized paintings throbbing with her repetitive dots, in Tokyo,
(ID: 478358598373)
AP Photo by Itsuo Inouye
STORYLINE:
Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who splashed her signature polka dots on paintings, sculptures and museum installations around the world, has died, her studio said on Thursday.
She was 97.
Kusama died Aug. 14 at a hospital in Tokyo, Yayoi Kusama Studio said.
Kusama, one of Japan’s most respected contemporary artists, was widely exhibited around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Repetitive motifs were her trademark, in various shapes, resembling netting, swirls or worms, but most often dots, dancing proudly on her canvases, or as sparkling balls or dots of light in her installations, in all their vibrant psychedelic glory.
“Polka dots are fabulous,” Kusama said in a 2012 interview with The Associated Press, appearing in her signature orange bobcut wig and polka dot-covered attire.
“I want to create a thousand paintings, maybe two thousand paintings, as many as I can draw,” she said in her childlike but matter-of-fact tone. “I will keep painting until I die.”
Kusama insisted she drew the way she saw the world -- covered with spots, part of the hallucinations she said she had from childhood.
She was in and out of psychiatric institution for decades, although her sickness did not hold her back as she was one of the first Japanese women to go to New York to pursue her art, in 1957.
Although soft-spoken and shy in her mannerisms, she was always unabashedly bold in the assertion of her dotty vision, not only in sticking to the style for decades but also in making it accessible to the masses.
In her later years, as the times caught up with her art, she enjoyed fame.
She signed on with fashion brands like Louis Vuitton as well as other licensed products like teacups, T-shirts and key chains with her illustrations, including replicas of her likeness that were used in show windows and other marketing.
In 2008, Christie’s auctioned her work for $5.8 million.
In 2016, she won the most prestigious award Japan gives its artists, the Order of Culture.
She knew she had to get away.
Find out more about AP Archive: aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: facebook.com/APArchives
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(27 Aug 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Tokyo, Japan - 21 February 2017
1. Various of Yayoi Kusama at preview of her solo exhibition in Tokyo
2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Yayoi Kusama, artist:
"I will fight until I'm dead. Even after my death, I hope that people can understand the purpose of my creations, as well as my hope and passion for art.”
3. Kusama’s artwork
4. Various of Kusama waving
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: London, UK - 9 July 2024
5. Various of 'Pumpkin' sculpture next to Round Pond in Kensington Gardens, London
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Cologne, Germany - 12 March 2026
6. "Infinity Mirrored Room – The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe", 2025, Mixed Media, collection of the artist, by Yayoi Kusama at exhibition at Ludwig Museum
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Cologne, Germany - 2 August 2026
7. Various of visitors walking through "Infinity Mirrored Room – The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe"
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Tokyo, Japan – 1 August 2012
8. FILE PHOTO - Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama, wearing a bright red wig and a Louis Vuitton polka dot scarf, speaks during an interview at her studio in Tokyo
(ID: 69100965033)
AP Photo by Itsuo Inouye
9. FILE PHOTO- Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama works at her studio, filled with wall-sized paintings throbbing with her repetitive dots, in Tokyo,
(ID: 478358598373)
AP Photo by Itsuo Inouye
STORYLINE:
Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who splashed her signature polka dots on paintings, sculptures and museum installations around the world, has died, her studio said on Thursday.
She was 97.
Kusama died Aug. 14 at a hospital in Tokyo, Yayoi Kusama Studio said.
Kusama, one of Japan’s most respected contemporary artists, was widely exhibited around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Repetitive motifs were her trademark, in various shapes, resembling netting, swirls or worms, but most often dots, dancing proudly on her canvases, or as sparkling balls or dots of light in her installations, in all their vibrant psychedelic glory.
“Polka dots are fabulous,” Kusama said in a 2012 interview with The Associated Press, appearing in her signature orange bobcut wig and polka dot-covered attire.
“I want to create a thousand paintings, maybe two thousand paintings, as many as I can draw,” she said in her childlike but matter-of-fact tone. “I will keep painting until I die.”
Kusama insisted she drew the way she saw the world -- covered with spots, part of the hallucinations she said she had from childhood.
She was in and out of psychiatric institution for decades, although her sickness did not hold her back as she was one of the first Japanese women to go to New York to pursue her art, in 1957.
Although soft-spoken and shy in her mannerisms, she was always unabashedly bold in the assertion of her dotty vision, not only in sticking to the style for decades but also in making it accessible to the masses.
In her later years, as the times caught up with her art, she enjoyed fame.
She signed on with fashion brands like Louis Vuitton as well as other licensed products like teacups, T-shirts and key chains with her illustrations, including replicas of her likeness that were used in show windows and other marketing.
In 2008, Christie’s auctioned her work for $5.8 million.
In 2016, she won the most prestigious award Japan gives its artists, the Order of Culture.
She knew she had to get away.
Find out more about AP Archive: aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: instagram.com/APNews
You can license this story through AP Archive: aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/0b9e2b44f788483ea32eb5d5d38c822a
